Learning how to Dance in the Rain
by Fan Fictional Authoress
Summary: They didn't mean to run over the Queen's daughter, truly, they didn't. Now she's lost her memory and has the mentality of a small child. There's little to no chance of her ever recovering it and frankly she could not care less whether she did or didn't. This was her family now. Every single one of those crazy elves. *****Loosely based on the story, Daughter of Time by wednesday-mc.
1. Cannibal Trees

** All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.**

_**Disclaimer:**__** All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**_

* * *

_"The English language being spoken."_

"The Sindarin language being spoken."

* * *

**Scotland. Mid-morning. October 29th on a Tuesday.  
**

* * *

The sound of humming filled the frigid air as a skier zoomed down the skiing trail that hugged a pine tree line. She rhythmically used her poles to push herself forward as she followed the trail. Studying the forest that just appeared in the distance on her right, she slowed to a stop, no longer humming. From where she was, the trees seemed awfully large and _old_ compared to the ones next to her on the left. Curious, she turned her skis in their direction and skied to them.

It was much harder for her to go anywhere on the snow that wasn't as as packed down as the trail she was just on. She managed though as she pushed through the fluffy, cold snow drifts. She saw a doe and her fawn gawk at her from ten yards away and waved as she continued on her way. The deer merely blinked, but otherwise refused to move as they stared at her.

Reaching the forest edge, she admired its height and denseness. Surprisingly, there were many different kinds of trees; a large variety of them. Oaks, aspens, pines, elms, maples, ash, and a few others she could not name. All of them were very thick and very tall. Delighted at her find, she skied further into the woods and in between the trees. She wasn't afraid of getting lost; she rationalized that she could just follow the trail she made back.

Turning off her ipod, she stuck it in her pocket after taking out the nubs to rest her ears. She reveled in the silence in the woods, with nothing but the sound of her own breathing, her heartbeat, and the occasional animal sound. Gripping the poles once more, she started on her way after giving a tree a good-natured pat with a smile. The steady rhythm of her poles and even breathing startled up a snow-colored hare from its hiding place.

The skier raced it with a laugh and was soundly beaten by the swift footed animal. She retained her quick pace though, enjoying the wind from the speed of her travel blowing through her hair. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she lazily watched the white cloud rise and disappear into the distance. So distracted by her daydreaming, she was startled out of her fantasy of of flying away when her skis got stuck in a the roots of a tree.

_"Oh!"_ She cried out in surprise. _"That's no good."_ she frowned and tried to dislodge herself to no avail. Muttering to herself, she disconnected her ski-boots and then tried to take out the skis only to make them even more helplessly caught. Whining to herself in frustration, she finally gave up after several long minutes of trying to release her homemade skis.

_"Why did you _have_ to eat them?"_ She demanded of the tree. _"Trees are not supposed to be cannibals! I made these skis when my favorite tree got struck down by lightning. I would appreciate it, if you spat them back up..."_

There was obviously no response from the tree.

She sighed, _"Well, the least you could do is hold onto them while I get help from someone... Now let's see... which direction did I come from again? Right or left? Right, I think... Well, I will find out soon enough anyway..."_ The skier then headed further into the forest in the opposite direction of whence she came. For she had skied on stiff, hard snow and left no marks, not even by her ski-poles. Her skis were so deep in the snow where they got caught, they wouldn't be able to point her in the right direction.

The ski-boots made it hard to travel in the snow as well as highly uncomfortable. The further she went, the darker the sky became, telling of the swift passage of time in a Scottish winter. Her feet had started to grow numb and her stride more clumsy. _"Maybe I should go back..."_ She mumbled to herself. _"Or maybe I shouldn't. The journey would be twice as long if I went back, wouldn't it?"_

She looked to the sky, huffing in exasperation, _"...I don't know anymore..."_

Suddenly, the sound of an automobile caught her ears. She froze for a second or two, trying to verify the sound, before making a mad dash forward. The adrenalin rush of hearing civilization gave her the strength to burst out running. floundering through the snow, she caught sight of a small break in the trees. In that small break was a road that was wide enough for two cars only. the sound of the car came closer. desperate, she struggled to go faster, only to trip over her boots, onto the road, and into the path of the car.

Panicking, she curled up her left leg and arm to protect her body while her right arm went up to protect her head. the driver hit the brakes immediately upon seeing her, but it was too late. He managed to slow down a lot, but not enough. He hit her and sent her flying a few feet. The impact of the car instantaneously broke her left arm and leg as well as cracked a few ribs on that side. When she landed; she cracked her right arm, whacked her head hard on the pavement, and bruised that side of the body heavily.

The driver fairly leaped out of the car and ran out, saying, _"Miss! Miss, are you alright? Car you hear me? Oh my lord, I _hit_ her!"_ The passenger doors instantly opened and out stepped two of the world's biggest company owners.

The female calmly strided over to the fallen skier._ "David, please go back inside the car and calm down. We will need a good driver to drive us safely and quickly to help."_

_"Y-yes, Mrs. Lasse."_ The driver quickly followed her orders as she assessed the damage and turned the skier over to get a good look at the girl's face. Mrs. Lasse's eyes widened and she let out a gasp.

"Lindîn? I am calling for help now, what should I tell them of her injuries?" The male asked only a foot away from his wife.

"Nothing. Call our headquarters instead. Tell them we have found the Queen's daughter and that she is gravely injured." The male hesitates in surprise. "Hurry, Thranduil." Lindîn snapped almost inaudibly.

Thranduil promptly complied and relayed the message while Lindîn carried the skier into the backseat of the car. Thranduil followed while quietly conversing into the phone. Lindîn then addressed the driver, _"David, continue to drive us back to headquarters, please. They are expecting us there with the appropriate help for our guest."_ Lindîn then put up the blackened window between her and the driver while he hurriedly obeyed her orders.

Thranduil handed her the phone, "Glorfindel wishes to talk to you. Gelinnas is preparing the healers and the room in the ward... He has questions." Thranduil's tone implied that he did as well.

"Glorfindel?"

"Lindîn, what does Thranduil mean by you 'just ran over the Queen's daughter and healers need to be advised?!' This is not amusing!"

"It was not meant to be, I assure you. We also did not run her over, we just hit her by accident."

"...You hit a human with a car on our property? How did she get in their and how do you know she is the Queen's daughter? We had lost the-"

"I made no mistake." Lindîn cut over Glorfindel. "You will know the moment you see her. Her appearance... not one of us would be able to think otherwise..."

"...That strongly? Well, I will believe it when I see it, but for now, we will take your claim at face value-no pun intended. Just a caution to you though, we only have Gelinnas and the human healers with us now. the twins are out with Legolas hunting at the moment and will not be returning until the week's end or there about."

"I understand." Glorfindel sighed before hanging up without another word. Lindîn looked over to see Thranduil looking bewildered as he brushed the hair out of the skier's face.

"The similarities are uncanny. This is no fluke." He muttered out loud.

"When we return, we will see that some of her DNA is comparable to that of the last Queen's daughter to verify everything. No need to raise Elrond's hopes for nothing."

"No doubt there will be a match..." Thranduil responded distractedly; Lindîn didn't give a reply.

* * *

The moment the lincoln stopped in front of the castle, Gelinnas raced out followed anxiously by three other healers. _"What are her injuries?"_ She instantly asked as Thranduil stepped out holding the Queen's daughter.

Lindîn answered, _"Broken left arm and leg, possible concussion, cracked right arm, and bruised ribs as far as I can tell."_

_"Right. Thranduil, I need you to carry her in, we will be less likely to jar her around and worsen her condition that way."_ Gelinnas turned her attention back to Lindîn. _"Glorfindel is waiting inside."_ She offered a quick smile before it disappeared as she warned, _"Prepare to be accosted with his many questions. Although, I believe they will be put on hold the moment he sees her..."_ Gelinnas trails off while examining the girl before she impatiently ushers Thranduil inside the castle.

Glorfindel was, in fact, waiting for them inside. However, like Gelinnas predicted, the moment her got a good look at the girl in Thranduil's arms, all his questions died on his lips. Gelinnas, Thranduil, and the three healers breezed by him on their way to the healing ward, as he stood there stunned. Lindîn patiently waited for him to recollect himself. Finally, he blinked, saying, "I believe you and I have some discussing to do. As does your husband when Gelinnas sends him away after he out lives his usefulness as transportation."

* * *

**Scotland. Early afternoon. November 6th on a Wednesday.**

* * *

_White._

That was all she could see, a cream-colored white. After a small pause, a steady beeping made its way to her awareness. Turning her head, she noticed a machine with a black screen that had a weird green line. Every time it beeped, the green line went jagged before smoothing out. She couldn't place the machines name, but she knew people used it to tell if people were alive.

Images of that machine, many other machines, white buildings with red crosses, men and women in white uniforms, and sick people filled her mind. She surmised that she was in one of those white buildings, whatever they were called. the name was on the tip of her tongue, but it also successfully evaded her knowledge. She turned her head to the other side.

There was a small table with bandage rolls and tape on it. There was also a clipboard and book on it. there was a metal stand with a plastic bag filled with liquid that had a tube attached. The tube then connected to her arm. Again, none of the names of the above objects reached or made any sense to her. She just didn't like that tube in her arm. So she took it out.

_Pain._

It hurt and she started bleeding. Acting instinctively, she used those bandages with her right arm and tightly wrapped her bleeding left arm and taped it shut.

_More pain._

This time it was on her sides, but there was no blood.

_Confusion and hurt._

The hurt slowly went away when she stopped moving, but the confusion stayed. Thoughts jumbled in her head and made no sense to her.

_They didn't give her any answers either._

A more apparent need made itself known to her. She looked around the room and noticed an ajar door that led to another room, a room she recognized. White tiled floors, a sink, towels, and a toilet. None of those words had any meaning, but the images that came with them did. 'How to get in there though?' Was the almost thought inside her head.

She had a leg in something thick, hard, and white; one of her arms was in the same thing. Her other arm was was in something black, hard, and thick, but not as thick as the white things.

She stared at them almost wonderingly, before following muscle memory and putting both feet on the floor. Using her arm with the black bracer, her right arm, she urged herself up right... only for her knees to buckle onto the hard and unforgiving floor. The beeping continued and it annoyed her. Seeing a black cord not too far from her face, she pulled on it and the beeping stopped. Her face contracted into something people would call a smile, but then she stopped.

Smiling hurt her chapped lips.

She looked back at the ajar door and inched over to a wall. Using her strong leg, the one without a cast, she leaned her weak side into the wall and slowly hobbled her way to the bathroom. She couldn't find or even remember where a light switch would be, so she left the door open. Locking her legs straight, she stiffly shuffled over to the toilet and sat down.

* * *

Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir did not expect the greeting they received when they returned to the castle after dropping off their catches to the cooks in the kitchen. That is to say, all the elves, minus Gelinnas who was soon fetched anyway, sitting in the main room waiting for them. Thranduil said to them the moment they sat down and Gelinnas had been fetched, "We have found the Queen's daughter."

Of all the things they had been expected to have been told, this wasn't it. "What?" Legolas asked disbelievingly.

"More like we found her by accidentally hitting her with the car while we were deep into our property line, but, yes, we found her." Lindîn said absentmindedly.

"You _what_?!" The twins burst out incredulously.

Glorfindel sighed in a long-suffering manner, "When Lindîn and Thranduil or I should say, _Lin and Nathaniel Lasse_, were returning from an important meeting, David got surprised. The Queen's daughter had unexpectedly stumbled out of the trees and into our driveway as well as into the lincoln's path. He stopped the car, but not fast enough."

"She has a broken left arm and leg. Her right arm is cracked enough to need an arm brace. Five of her left ribs are cracked and her entire right side is majorly bruised from her landing. She also have a concussion, not bad enough to where it is life-threatening, but it is no small issue. I had put her into a deep healing sleep; she has been out for over a week now." Gelinnas stated factually.

"We, meaning Glorfindel and myself, went back to where the accident had happened and tracked her steps. She had come from the main skiing trail, but for some unfathomable reason was drawn to the edge of our tree line and inside of it. She skied deep inside our property until her skis got stuck. She then made her way to our driveway and got hit." Thranduil explained.

"How do you know it is the Queen's daughter, not that I doubt all of you, but it is a knowledge that is just a little hard to swallow..." Legolas trailed off as Glorfindel gave a humorless smile.

"Why don't you three go and see for yourselves? She is in healing room B. We will be right behind you." Bewildered, Legolas and the twins made their way to the healing ward. They opened room B's door, expecting to see a small female asleep in the lone bed there.

It was empty.

"Maybe we have the wrong room and she is supposed to be in room D?" Elladan quietly suggested.

"Maybe." Elrohir and Legolas agreed. They were half-way down to room D, when they heard a toilet flush from room B followed by the sound of running water. Shooting each other surprised looks, they strode back to room B and went inside. There they saw a dark-haired girl hobble out of the bathroom, leaning heavily on the side of the door.

"Oh..." they breathed surprised. Legolas, having quicker wits than either of the twins at that moment, went over to her.

_"You are not supposed to be up."_ He announced to her gently. She did not seem to hear him at first as she studiously watched her feet so they didn't trip over anything. The seconds drew out longer and longer and before Legolas could say something else, she turned her head towards his general direction startled, almost as if she just noticed he was there for the first time. The twins, who had arrived soundlessly behind Legolas, were also there.

She tried to back away from them hastily, but lost what little footing she had. When she landed, she let out a pitiful, animal-like cry of pain. A sound that a puppy would have most likely made after it had been kicked-somewhere between a whimper, a whine, a moan, and a yelp-escaped her lips.

Concerned, Legolas reached out to help her while the twins hovered anxiously. As soon as she saw movement, she flinched away warily and put up her arm as if to ward them off. Green, luminous eyes timidly watched Legolas, who froze upon seeing her face. Those eyes turned their attention to the twins, who she deemed more of a threat, when they moved forward a bit. The moment they saw her face, they shouted in shock.

"Elbereth! She looks just like father!"

"Her eyes are Eldarion's!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

**Translations: * **Gelinnas (Legolas's wife) ~ Joyful Will

Lindîn (Thranduil's wife) ~ Silent Song

Eldarion (Arwen and Aragorn's son) ~ Descendant of the Eldar (literally Son [of] Elves)

Glorfindel ~ Golden Hair

Elrond ~ Star Cave

Elladan ~ Elf Dúnadan

Elrohir ~ Elf Knight

Thranduil ~ Vigorous spring

Legolas (Do I even need to do this one?) ~ Green Leaf (literally a green collection of leaves)

Elbereth ~ Star-queen

**Explanations: * **This is loosely based off of _"Daughter of Time"_ by wednesday-mc. A fan fiction that has not been touched on neither fan fiction nor yahoo groups for close to three years. This idea is inspired by that fan fiction, but the route I plan on taking is entirely my own. Like_ Daughter of Time _this story is Alternative Universe because it takes place within a future LOTR universe and selectively uses canon for the purposes of set-up and back story. It is also Alternate Reality because the characters are in another time and place.

Unlike _Daughter of Time_, our Queen's daughter will not remember anything of her past life for a long, long time. Even if she does, it will only ever be partially, only a small sliver. She will have to relearn most things and others not so much; those things will be become more evident as the story goes on.

*****Elvish is going to be the main and most common language, which is why the English is italicized and not the Sindarin.

*****Besides suffering from memory loss, the Queen's daughter also suffers from APD (Auditory Processing Delay). It is only temporary and I am not an expert on this. Expect the term to be loosely used for a few chapters until she can process at the same rate she is hearing.

*****Ha! I bet you thought she was going to look exactly like Arwen or Lúthien or Galadriel or some other insanely pretty person related to Elrond, but not Elrond himself! But no, I did this instead to add some conflict and psychological mind-messing. Interesting concept, right? Her picture is the book cover. Now no matter how much you may want to believe, this Elrond _does not_ look exactly like that epic beast Hugo Weaving. If he did, that means that the Queen's daughter looked like Hugo Weaving, which would be very weird. The Queen's daughter will actually look more like ***** in Elrond's opinion, though. (Try to guess who!)

**Advertisements:**

**TITLE:** A Ring of Endless Light.

**AUTHOR:** Fan Fictional Authoress (formally Neoko-chan)

**ID: **8461992

**SUMMARY: **When we left, did the world stop? Did it cease to exist? Or did the world pause, mourning for our loss, before slowly and painfully moving on? No. It simply kept turning, kept moving, with or without us. We were the only ones who refused to let go. Until they found us, and showed us how to feel alive. It isn't so bad to be forgotten, for you will be found and treasured once again.

**OPINION: **It may be a little self-serving to advertise my own story, but why not? It is probably my best story I ever made and easily my most researched. Which is a little frightening, because if _that_ is my best work, then my other ones must be mediocre. So why don't you check it out?

**Thought Process:** I know, I know... I _should_ be working on my other stories, but... This just would not leave me alone! I have been thinking about this one since last year and just when I thought it would leave me alone, it sneak attacked me yet again a while ago. It was interfering with _A Ring of Endless Light. _Hopefully it is out of my system for a while...


	2. The finger-painting of Carrock

** All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.**

_**Disclaimer:**__** All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**_

* * *

_"The English language being spoken."_

"The Sindarin language being spoken."

* * *

_******Scotland. Early afternoon. November 6th on a Wednesday.**_

* * *

_Fear._

She was scared, so scared of these beings that came into the room, especially the two dark-haired ones. They talked too loud, far too loud for her liking. The light-haired one simply stared. She didn't like this.

_She did not like this at all._

She was in pain, felt tired, and was _so very scared_. It was too much, far too much. Her thoughts fluttered around her head and screamed at her, trying to be heard over each other. It was too loud.

Stop yelling at her, just stop it.

'Please,' her mind pleaded. Unable to take anymore, she covered her ears and started weeping. 'No more. Please, just no more.'

* * *

The twins didn't know what to do. She was crying. The Queen's daughter was crying because of them. They didn't mean to scare her, but she just looked so much like Elrond...their father..._their papa_. It was just so surprising and a bit unsettling to see those expressions cross the face of their father.

_Even though it wasn't their father._

Her eyes reminded them so shockingly of Estel and Arwen's only child, Eldarion's. It had the same vibrant color and shade. Her face, for all it reminded them of their father, it had a distinctly feminine look about it; more open and softer, like a child's... Her pitiful sobs reached their ears and the guilt ate at them. They had made the equivalent of a small child, in their eyes, burst into tears. Not the best first impression ever.

It just went downhill from there.

Glorfindel, Thranduil, Lindîn, and Gelinnas fairly burst into the room and all of them asked their various of 'just what was going on in there?' Again the Queen's daughter's reaction time was off, but as soon as the extra loud sounds and stress of more people in the room had reached her, she reacted negatively. She started wailing and trembling, it was obvious that she was scared out of her wit's end. Legolas picked her up and gently set her on the bed. Either she didn't notice or she didn't care, because she gave no outward sign of the change.

Lindîn and Gelinnas immediately went to work on ushering everyone else, including the twins, out of the room. They shut the door on everyone's faces before starting to work on calming down the hysterical Queen's daughter with soft words and, most likely, reassuring caresses and hugs.

"Well, that went well." Glorfindel stated dryly.

Thranduil looked at him sharply, "That went as well as a cat with a bucket of water. What happened?"

"We went in there to find that she was already awake and moving about. I went up to her and scolded her for being out of bed in the state she was, and is, in. She did not appear to realize I was there at first. she merely continued walking towards the window while watching her own feet to make sure she did not trip. She then startled seconds later, as if she had just heard me," Legolas explained.

Elladan nodded and continued where Legolas left off, "Yes, she took a fall after that scare. When Legolas moved to her, she shied away from him. She reminded me of a small and frightened rabbit."

"We, meaning Elladan and I, were _very_ surprised to see someone with our father's face and Eldarion's eyes." Elrohir stated, giving pointed looks at the other elves. They were stunned though at hearing the Queen's daughter had the son of Arwen's eyes.

"Truly?" Glorfindel breathed.

"No mistake about it." Legolas confirmed.

"We would know those eyes anywhere." The twins agreed, "However, we are worried about her, her reaction time seems...off..."

"Off?" Thranduil asked.

"Yes, off. It is by seconds, but it is still off." Legolas supported.

"Gelinnas said she had a concussion, so mayhaps this could be one of the side effects of it?" Glorfindel slowly suggested as the elves looked at him, horrified at the notion.

"My wife could give her a through check-up now that the Queen's daughter is awake." Legolas suggested.

"That would be the idea, Legolas, but now we need to get her calmed down first-" Before Thranduil could continue, Lindîn opened the door.

"Thranduil and Glorfindel, you can come in now, just no sudden movements or loud noises. Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir, all three of you will have to wait a bit... Too many people will make her feel more cornered than she already does." The twins and their friend nodded before stepping farther back from the door, but still within hear distance. Thranduil made sure to leave the door open so the younger elves could hear everything that happened inside the room.

Thranduil and Glorfindel sat in two of the four chairs that had been brought beside the girl's bed. Lindîn was occupying one of the remaining chairs while Gelinnas was waving her finger back and forth in front of the eyes of the Queen's Daughter. The eyes were behind in tracking the finger. Making a noise of worried frustration, Gelinnas took her away, only to see that the eyes still tracked a finger that wasn't there, before stopping and blinking seconds later.

"_Now I see what they had meant by an 'off' reaction time_." Thranduil said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yes," Gelinnas answered distractedly. "Both with her visual and auditory senses and because of this, so is her motor movements."

"_English, _please_, Daughter_." Thranduil half-jokingly and half-seriously requested, before politely indicating with his eyes the girl on the bed who had no understanding of Sindarin.

"_Her seeing and hearing reaction time is off by seconds. Her sense of touch is in real-time though, so it is very baffling for her to feel something, but not being able to see or hear where it is coming from until seconds later_." Lindîn explained slowly with a teasing smile while Thranduil mock-scowled at her. Glorfindel snorted and made no attempt to hide his amusement behind a cough until Thranduil glowered at him.

"_Ah-hem..."_ Glorfindel coughed before studiously ignoring his friend, "_I do believe we have an important discussion to have with the Queen's Daughter, such as her name and why she had decided to come onto the 'Silver Wood's' property_."

Lindîn turned to look at him, "_That as well as introduce and explain ourselves to her_, my friend."

"_Ah, but that is a given_." Glorfindel grinned at her before turning his attention to the youngest occupant in the room. "_I am _Glorfindel_, Queen's Daughter_."

"_I am _Thranduil_ and this is my wife, _Lindîn." Thranduil squeezed Lindîn's hand and Lindîn smiled at the silent girl.

"_And I am_ Gelinnas. _What is your name_?" The elves then patiently waited for a response of some sort, but they received none, only a girl looking at them with a wary curiosity.

"_Do you speak English_?" Thranduil asked gently, only to receive a politely blank look. The elves all exchanged glances at each other, before trying 'do you understand' in various common languages; Spanish, Gaelic, German, Italian, Russian, French, and a few others. She understood none of it. The elves collectively leaned back, perplexed.

Lindîn studied her for a second or two before moving forward to rest in front of the Queen's daughter. She waited until the girl was looking at her before Lindîn rested a hand on her own heart. Speaking clearly and slowly, she said, "Lindîn." Then she held out her other hand to the girl. The girl slowly shook her head, before pointing at the she-elf.

"Lindîn..." The girl pointed at herself, opened her mouth to say something, and remained silent. A puzzled look stole over her features, then closing her mouth, she gave a feeble shrug. All the elves exchanged panicked glances, there was no mistaking what the Queen's daughter had meant by that. She didn't remember her own name and she possibly had forgotten how to talk. This was grievous news indeed.

Lindîn eased back and slowly pointed out each and every elf in the room and said their names. She paused between each name and waited for the girl to repeat the names. While Lindîn was busy with the human girl the elves conferred amongst themselves. "How extensive do you think her memory loss is. If she cannot even remember how to talk..." Thranduil broke off, troubled.

Gelinnas bit her lip before saying, "I don't think that it could be too bad. I think she remember some things, just not the name or word for them; this includes herself. I will conduct a small test to see how much she remembers, simple math problems, puzzles, pictures of animals and places, and more tests to time how off she is. It's possible that her reaction time will slowly return to normal and that it is only temporary..." Gelinnas didn't say what would happen if it wasn't temporary.

"Yes, that is good for the present, but what about for the long-term? Should we attempt to teach her a common language? A language we all know and can use? Also, what about the D.N.A. test? What if it comes back negative? ...What will we tell Elrond if it comes back positive?" Glorfindel said, asking the questions everyone was wondering.

"So, we _are _going to wait for the results before telling Elrond? I thought we were quite sure." Thranduil pointed looked at Glorfindel, expecting an answer.

"Yes, I don't think I would have the heart to tell him it was a false alarm-if the results turn out to be negative-after just getting his hopes up that we had found his line again. That we had found the Queen's daughter, when there was a slight possibility that she wasn't..." Glorfindel didn't feel the need to continue. A steady and pensive silence filled the room as the elves thought of their friend who was hiding in the Black Forest of Germany in his lonely mansion. Of Elrond who was hiding in the remnants of Imladris and the Last Homely House.

"I think..." Lindîn said thoughtfully, "That we should teach her Sindarin, regardless of whether or not she is the Queen's daughter, because it is quite apparent that she will be staying here for a long while because of us. I also think that we should wait for the results and tell Elrond about her was soon as we get them. I feel that not matter the results, he will still be interested in her. But, that is not our choice."

"What do you mean, mother?" Gelinnas asked Legolas's mother and her mother-in-law.

"That should be left up to Elladan and Elrohir. It is their sister's line and we may have found a direct descendant. They should be the ones deciding her fate before and after the results as well as whether or not their father is told."

Thranduil nodded, "Lindîn is right. We should also leave the decision of what to call the Queen's Daughter up to them as well. When should we start teaching her?"

"As soon as Gelinnas does her tests, which she should do after we leave. The sooner the better."

"Oh, I could do them right now. It matters not who is or is not here."

"All the same, we want her concentration to be completely on you. Do we have anything else?"

"No, I believe not."

"Right, then let us go discuss what we must with the twins and Legolas." Thranduil and Glorfindel stood up and let with Lindîn, who gave an encouraging pat to the girl before leaving her in the caring hands of Gelinnas.

* * *

_******Scotland. Noon. November 11th on a Monday.**_

* * *

Gelinnas smiled kindly at the Queen's daughter and said, "I believe that we should take a break now, Penneth." The girl's face lit up.

"Break good," She nodded happily. "Elladan, Elrohir where?"

"I do not know, Penneth, but I think Elrohir might be trying to sneak into the kitchen for a snack and Elladan might be doing some paper work." The girl remained quiet bit a second or two, slowly dissecting what words she knew out of the sentence from what ones she did not, to understand what Gelinnas just said. She had come far in the past few days of her staying here.

Her ability to remember words once she was taught them was amazing, but not surprising. She was learning how to talk again, since whatever language she used to speak was now long forgotten. Think of it as this, she mind was like a computer desktop. She use to have files upon files of information and memories. Suddenly, it crashes and all the files are deleted, except for the preset ones that were saved on the hard drive. There are now gigabytes upon gigabytes of space now to store new information to replace what was lost.

As a bonus, the girl's hearing and sight reaction time was getting better and she was now only a few seconds off. Gelinnas had predicted that by the end of the week, the girl's reaction time would be back to normal. Contrary to what the elves originally feared, the Queen's Daughter wasn't afraid of the twins nor Legolas the next time she saw them. In fact, she didn't realize that they were the ones who startled her in the first place, either she didn't associate them with the scare or she didn't care.

_It was not like they could have explained it to her if they wanted to._

"Go?" She asked with a pleading look and looking hopefully over to the door.

Gelinnas sighed, "I do not know, Penneth. You almost strained yourself last time you walked all the way over there. You will simply have to wait. Lindîn said the wheelchair will arrive tomorrow."

"Wheelchair coming tomorrow..." The Queen's daughter repeated with a resigned air about her. Gelinnas patted the girl sympathetically on the back before standing up.

"Would you like to paint for the rest of your break?"

"Yes...please." Gelinnas started, before smiling widely; this was the first time the Queen's Daughter had used the word 'please.' She must have picked it up from the twins, for they were the ones who worked the hardest on teaching her how to talk. The elven lady pulled the easel over and set a chair beside it. Next, she assisted the human girl into said chair. Gelinnas gently tied the apron securely on her charge and placed the painting supplies within easy reach.

The brunette studied the paint colors, before nodding approvingly. "Thank, Gelinnas."

"Thank _you_, Gelinnas," the elf gently corrected.

"Thank you, Gelinnas," the girl parroted back before quietly repeating the words 'thank' and 'you' to commit them to memory.

"You are welcome, Penneth." Gelinnas then left the Queen's Daughter to her own devices. The brunette didn't seem to notice her caretaker's departure, as she was too absorbed in considering the blank paper in front of her. After staring at the white range of artistry potential, she dipped a finger in the gray paint and carefully started to draw out her masterpiece. It started out looking like a large gray mound, but with a little bit of black mixed in here a splash of white mixed in there, it started to look like a large rock of some sort.

She rinsed off her fingers in the provided pan of water before dipping her finger into a shade of light green paint. Rolling green hills were added thoughtfully before shadows-of what one could assume were created by clouds-were also added using a bit of a darker green paint. The girl included trees of red, orange, and yellow as well, quite possibly trying to mimic the colors of what a person would see in the autumn. Using a light blue, the girl made a curving river that snaked in between the hills and past the large mountainous hill of stone that strange resembled an animal of some fashion.

A wolverine or a bear, perhaps?

She made the sky a deary and misty greyish-white. As a final touch, the Queen's Daughter added the brown figure of a soaring bird of prey, scouring the land for its next lunch or its enemies from which it so jealously guarded its home from. Several hours had passed before the artist was finally done, but before she rinsed her hands for the final time, added one last thing. This final thing was added unconsciously and with no thought pertaining to the action. A habit that the always been there and had been reawaken with the familiar motion of finger-painting.

A small initial was added on the lower right-hand corner.

A small initial that blended in so well, no one would notice-least of all see it!-if they were not looking for it. Her caretakers, all of them, would be too busy being bewildered by the painting to notice it. They would be too baffled by the impossible to ponder the odd marking. They would be too busying seeing the memory of an old and almost completely forgotten eyot that no longer existed. An eyot that long crumbled under the sands of time, the Carrock.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

**Translations: ***Penneth ~ Young one

**Explanations:** *What ever medical jargon that Gelinnas spewed out is learned from Google.

*It is totally possible that the elves would know a multitude of languages, it would be necessary for blending in, you know.

*If that metaphor about the QD's mind being like a computer did not in any way make sense or had some errors, sorry. I am ignorant.

*Please tell me you Tolkien fans remember the Carrock?

**Thought Process: **Hey. Hi. Whatever... I am so tired and achy. I stood on my feet for four hours straight yesterday painting the gate inside the mountain that led into Menegroth of a thousand caves. Then it sleeting outside, I had to stand outside in it wanting for the bus with sixty-something other people so we could go back to school for the last twenty minutes of class.

Then when I got home I had to shovel. It is Minnesota. It is sleeting. And I had to shovel about six inches plus another three or so today.

_OW._

Well, enough of my whining. I will not be able to update 'A Ring of Endless Light' until May Day. Please do not hate on me. Your flames of wrath may just throw me out of the game. Life has already beaten me up enough as it is, please do not add to it. I am about half-way through the chapter and I have breached around 11,381 words. The wait will be worth it, I can promise you that much.

This chapter was pathetically short and I am not happy with it. Hopefully the next one will be much longer. And better. Much better.

Elrond will get notified two chapters from now about QD. The D.N.A. test results about one chapter from now. Their thoughts about her painting? Next chapter as well.

Happy Friday, everyone. Lord knows I need it.

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress.

_Date Submitted: Friday, April 19, 2013._


End file.
